Itami's rage

She was training with her team. The second stage of the chūnin exams were only in day three and she was missing Shikamaru. She was still mad at Shillo for pulling out and she didn't try to hide it. In fact, she was relentlessly attacking Shillo with everything she had. She was running out of steam. Then she remembered why she was mad in the first placed and it filled her with renewed rage. She continued pounding Shillo endlessly. Shillo was yelling in pain.

"Itami, that's enough!" Aumi sensei instructed. Aumi grabbed Itami's arm and pulled her away from the badly wounded team mate. Itami flailed around trying to break free but quickly gave up and cried on the ground. Aumi let her go and kneeled next to her.

"I know you're mad at Shillo but he's your team mate. You need to forgive him. He just did what he thought was best for the team because he didn't want to let you or Shikko down," Aumi calmed Itami. Shillo stood and walked over to them. His face was sad and sorry.

"I was just looking out for you. Really, I just wanted to make sure you would pass the chūnin exams and I wasn't sure we were ready yet. I'm sorry. I didn't know it would make you so mad. I'm sorry," Shillo was almost crying because of how sorry he was. She was starting to feel bad now. The whole time she'd been fighting him when he was just watching out for her. Itami walked up to Shillo and hugged him.

"I'm sorry," she whispered.

"It's over! It's Over! IT'S OVER!" Itami yelled happily. It had been 3 days since she had forgiven Shillo and the second stage of the chūnin exams had been completed. Itami ran from her training grounds to Shikamaru's house. When she got there, she knocked on the door and Yoshino (Shikamaru's mum) answered.

"Is he here? Is He Here? IS HE HERE?" Itami squealed. Yoshino smiled and answered, "Yes, he's in his room." Itami jumped up and down in joy then ran for Shikamaru's room.

"Don't wake him! He's still sore from the exams!" Shikamaru's mum called to Itami but Itami ignored it and kept on going to Shikamaru's room. She entered his room and jumped on him and his bed.

"SHIKAMARU!" she yelled cheerfully. He groaned, "Troublesome woman." She laughed and hugged him tight, a little too tight. He groaned in pain. She loosened her grip and lay on top of him, soaking up all of him for as long as she could to make up for the moments she missed with him during the second stage. He held her to him and they lay on his bed for hours on end. After a few hours Yoshino went to check on her son and his friend. When Yoshino entered Shikamaru's room she found Shikamaru and Itami asleep on Shikamaru's bed.

"Oh, those two," she sighed sweetly. She pulled the covers over the best friends and left the room.

Itami woke to find herself in a bed holding Shikamaru and him looking at her tiredly.

Wait, Shikamaru woke up before me?

"You're awake," Shikamaru commented.

"Nah duh, captain obvious," Itami teased. Shikamaru gave a small chuckle and Itami sat up.

"I missed you during the second stage," she confessed. Shikamaru sat up also.

"I missed you, too, but there's still a third stage to go," Shikamaru pointed out. Itami sighed then smiled.

"So, tell me about the exams so far. Are they awesome?" Itami started to get excited.

"Nah, they're a total drag. I mean, I had to spend 5 days in the forest with Ino and I was also almost killed many times. Then once I finished that, preliminary rounds were held straight after because there were too many people who passed the second stage. That was easily passed though; the girl I fought wasn't very smart. Next, third stage, that's usually fighting an opponent, what a drag," Shikamaru grumble. Itami laughed at his laziness.

"Hey, it's not that bad. At least you get a break for a while. It could have been that you go straight into the third stage. How long is it til third stage?" Itami prompted.

"I got a month to train. Huh, training. Asuma sensei said there wasn't much to train so I guess that means I'm not training for a whole month," Shikamaru answered.

"Who else passed?" Itami asked another question.

"Jeez, enough with the questions. Naruto, Sasuke, Neji, Shino, Gaara, Kankurō, Temari, Dosu and I all passed," Shikamaru answered another question.

"Which one are you fighting and who are those people?"

"*groan* I'm fighting Temari. Gaara, Temari and Kankurō are sand nin and Dosu is a sound nin. You know the rest."

"What about the tenth question?" Itami's face grew stern and her tone deadly.

"Um, well, the question was whether or not we wanted to take the tenth question," Shikamaru put it as simply as possible. Itami sat there staring at him with a look of confusion and anguish on her face.

"Crazylazyninsaywhat?"

Shikamaru sighed, "Look, in the middle of a battle you can't just put your hand up and say I quit. The tenth question was testing to see if you had enough courage in yourself and your team mates to take the risk." Itami was starting to get it but it only made her mad at Shillo again. It also made her mad at Shikamaru for passing. She let out a long sigh and flopped back down onto the bed. She just wanted to forget everything.

Maybe it's not as bad as I'm making it out to be. I bet everything will work out fine.